Monday, June 1, 2015

Chainclaw!

This blog is run with a buffer of posts. I usually like to do about a month or so ahead of time so I can concentrate on real life issues, like the kitchen remodel that I'm working on. Sometimes I forget just how many posts I have left in the buffer, and that leads to a gap in posts, like last week. Whoops! No matter, time to start another run of posts. What better way to start that with a Pretender! A Pretender Beast at that!

Chainclaw popped up on eBay not long after my infant son had surgery during my string of cheap finds. If memory serves, I paid $30 for him shipped, which is a good deal. I've always wanted Chainclaw since I was a wee 5th grader, but it just never happened for me. Something about bears just really get me excited. A robot that transforms into a bear that then hides inside another bear? Sign me up.

Where the regular Pretender shells have articulation in their arms, the Pretender Beast shells feature no articulation whatsoever. Chainclaw makes up for the lack of shell articulation with a helmet. A helmet that makes him look like he belongs in the Masters of The Universe line. Seriously, it's not hard to imagine He-Man, or Stratos, riding Chainclaw into battle.

Crack the shell open, and you'll find Chainclaw's inner robot. He's smaller than the main Pretenders, but he's a good looking bot. My specimen has stickers that are in great shape, and the dark grey really goes well with the yellow of the main body. For some reason, Chainclaw's head rotates. That's something I'd expect from the regular Pretenders, and Carnivac's head did not rotate. My guess is that the rotating head is to compensate for Chainclaw's tiny, tiny hands. Figures that can't hold their own weapons in their fists always tend to annoy me. Certainly there are figures that are the exception - I couldn't imagine a Seeker without the arm cannons, and Bomb-Burst looks magnificent with arm mounted lasers - but when there's only one weapon, it looks funny.

Chainclaw in his "action pose". This guy is certainly a prototypical G1 brick.

Fold a couple of pieces, and you have yourself a...bear? Maybe? Chainclaw looks more like a dog in this mode.

Maybe it's a bear. Whatever. Here's Chainclaw with his Solid Sonic Energy Blaster attached. This is one bear-dog that I wouldn't want to cross if I was a Decepticon. Well, that's two Pretender Beasts down, and two to go. I wonder if that's what my next vintage post will be about? Who knows?